


Warning Sign

by KittyGoddess415



Series: How It Falls Apart [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, Heavy Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 19:39:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5797243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyGoddess415/pseuds/KittyGoddess415
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to "Set Fire to the Rain", with a tiny bit of wraparound reflection. Looking back, Daisy realizes she should have seen the signs all along, and realizes the signs she did see saved her life in the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warning Sign

Looking back, it amazed her -- the lies they told themselves, each other. About justice and what was right, and how to stop the darkness. It was all so reasonable, so believable and yet...there was poison in the well of their righteousness, enough to choke them all. 

_And oh, how it did._

Skye became Daisy and left the seeds of whatever might have been behind

_along with four slugs to the chest..._

She took her pain and channeled it

_buried it_  
_forged it into steel  
_ _and bled on it every day_

to form her team, her warriors, protectors

_like he had been_  
_was supposed to be  
_ _still was._

 

And it was that team that discovered their greatest mistake.

Maveth. Death. Death by torture, by trial, behind the face of the man they'd been told was no longer a threat. Slithering beneath his skin, smiling with his dead eyes, haunting her in flesh and bone that should no longer move.

The recognition struck them all one by one, but as the bodies piled against them, it was all too clear.

Grant Ward as an enemy had been nothing compared to Death wearing his skin.

Coulson left them first, his guilt gnawing and clawing in ways they couldn't see, couldn't help. Mack wore the mantle of director like a burden, the difference showing as they turned inward to protecting themselves. For a while, it seemed they were safe, that Maveth

_or Ward?_

wanted Coulson more than the rest.

But even as they reasoned the vendetta had taken over, Death stalked them slowly, patiently.

He had been gone so long that they tried to start living again, loving again. She guarded herself carefully, jealously, even, but allowed the luxury of affection before too much time had passed. Blonde hair, bright smile, a heart she could hide inside.

_The mess wasn't hers to clean up anyway, this time...  
_ _Was it?_

Maveth roared from hibernation after that, a kiss in the sunlight the kiss of Death to their borrowed peace. Coulson's bleeding body on their doorstep was a gauntlet no one could ignore. 

_But not dead,  
_ _why not dead?_

He refused to leave Ward's body, Death coveting the skills and the confusion his host wrought too much to relinquish it.

_Maybe the mess was hers after all._

She begged Coulson for a chance, Mack stepping aside to let them handle the Inhuman threat he'd never wanted to touch.

_And if she handled it too tenderly, too preciously in the end..._  
_there was enough Grant Ward in that body Maveth had thought was_  
_his vessel  
_ _to leave her alive._

_The mess, the loss, the lesson,  
_ _all hers to bear alone._

**Author's Note:**

> Heard "I Found" by Amber Run and angsty Skyeward popped into my head. It was only when I started writing it that I realized it was a sort of prequel. So sorry to angst you all, but I'm snowed in and listening to that on a loop. Hope everyone is warm and safe.


End file.
